1951 Topps Blue Back #35 Tommy Byrne
About Tommy Byrne
The 1950 Yankees won the pennant with Byrne as a 15-game winner: he went 15-9 in 31 starts and 203.1 innings and was chosen for the American League All-Star team. His 4.74 ERA carried the cost of the wildness that made him the league leader in both walks and hit batters, and on July 5 he hit four batters in five innings to tie the American League record for one game. He made up part of the difference at the plate, batting .272 with 2 home runs and 16 RBI. On June 15, 1951, he arrived at Yankee Stadium to find left-hander Stubby Overmire in his locker; New York had traded him to the St. Louis Browns, with $25,000, for Overmire.
Tommy Byrne was a left-handed pitcher who spent most of 1943 to 1957 with the New York Yankees, with stops on the St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox and Washington Senators. His control gave him the name Wild Man: he led the American League in walks from 1949 to 1951 and in hit batsmen five times. Even so, he won 15 games in both 1949 and 1950, and in 1955 went 16-5 with a 3.15 ERA and the league's best winning percentage, .762. He was a dangerous hitter as well, finishing with a .238 average, 14 home runs and two grand slams; one came as a White Sox pinch hitter off Ewell Blackwell with two out in the ninth on May 16, 1953, and won the game against New York. He spent 1944 and 1945 in the Navy, serving as gunnery officer on the destroyer USS Ordronaux when it shelled German shore defenses in southern France in August 1944. A 20-10 season with Seattle of the Pacific Coast League in 1954, with a league-leading 199 strikeouts, brought him back to the Yankees that September. His career record was 85-69 with a 4.11 ERA. He was mayor of Wake Forest, North Carolina, from 1973 to 1987, and died there on December 20, 2007.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 169 | 0 | 41 | 43 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| SGC | 11 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More New York Yankees cards:
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- Red Back #5 Phil Rizzuto
- Red Back #6 Allie Reynolds
- Red Back #18 Gerry Coleman
- Red Back #24 Hank Bauer
- Blue Back #10 Joe Page
- Blue Back #39 Ed Lopat
- Blue Back #50 Johnny Mize
- Connie Mack's All-Star Lou Gehrig
- Connie Mack's All-Star Babe Ruth
- Major League All-Star Yogi Berra
- Major League All-Star Phil Rizzuto
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #35 card?
It is Blue Back #35 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Tommy Byrne of the New York Yankees.
Is 1951 Topps Blue Back #35 a rookie card?
Yes - Blue Back #35 is the rookie card of Tommy Byrne.
How many cards are in the 1951 Topps Baseball set?
135 cards across five issues - the Red Backs and Blue Backs (52 each), nine Team cards, and eleven each of Connie Mack's All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars. With the Zernial and Holmes variations and both versions of each Team card the master set is 146. All 135 count toward the full set; Jim Konstanty, Robin Roberts and Eddie Stanky, the three rarest Major League All-Stars, are so rarely seen that collectors often count a complete set as 132 without them.
Sources: PSA, BaseballCardPedia, Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-26.